CREDO Mobile Blog

Posted on June 2, 2021

Vote for Freedom For All Americans, Rainforest Foundation US and Trust for Public Land this June

Every month, CREDO members vote to distribute a monthly donation to three incredible progressive causes – and every vote makes a difference. This June, you can support LGBTQ rights, climate justice and public land conservation by voting to fund Freedom For All Americans, Rainforest Foundation US and Trust for Public Land.

Freedom For All Americans

Freedom for All Americans is the bipartisan campaign to secure full nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people nationwide. The organization is closer than ever to getting this done, by passing the Equality Act, legislation Congress is considering right now.

Funding from CREDO will help FFAA run highly individualized education and lobbying campaigns targeting conservative senators in 11 states, to provide both personal and public pressure and achieve the 60 senate votes needed to pass the Equality Act.

Rainforest Foundation US

Rainforest Foundation supports indigenous peoples of the world’s rainforests in their efforts to protect their environment and fulfill their rights. Global tropical forests are absolutely vital to combating the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

Your support helps ensure that tropical forests can keep capturing and storing carbon, while also producing fresh air and clean water for generations to come.

The Trust for Public Land

Access to nature is a fundamental human right. Yet, 1 in 3 Americans don’t have a park close to home—including 28 million kids. Trust for Public Land is changing that by collaborating with communities to create parks, playgrounds, trails, and protect natural spaces.

Trust for Public Land is leading a movement to put a park within a 10-minute walk of every American. With your support, TPL partners with historically marginalized communities to protect and develop new outdoor spaces so that all people have access to the health benefits and climate solutions that nature provides.

Your vote this month will determine how we divide our monthly donation among these three progressive groups. Be sure to cast your vote to support one, two or all three by June 30.

CREDO members who use our products and services everyday are the reason we are able to make these donations each month. Learn more about CREDO Mobile and CREDO Energy and join our movement.

Posted on June 1, 2021

Our May grantees thank you for your support

Each month, CREDO members vote on how we distribute funding to three incredible nonprofits. Those small actions add up – with one click, you can help fund groups working for gun violence prevention, food and climate justice and promoting the “people’s history” in education. In May, CREDO members voted to distribute our monthly donation to Brady: United Against Gun Violence, Slow Food USA and Zinn Education Project.

These donations are made possible by CREDO customers and the revenue they generate by using our services. The distribution depends entirely on the votes of CREDO members like you. And for that, our May grant recipients thank you.

Brady: United Against Gun Violence
$57,355

“CREDO is an incredible partner in helping build a movement to take real action, not sides, in the fight to end America’s gun violence epidemic.” – Kris Brown, President, Brady

To learn more, visit BradyUnited.org.

Slow Food USA
$40,965

“Thank you! With CREDO’s support, we center FOOD as a delicious solution to climate justice. As a network of over 115 chapters and 5000 members in the US, we are mobilizing a dynamic network to push for radical change in our food systems.” – Anna Mulé, Executive Director, Slow Food USA

To learn more, visit slowfoodusa.org.

Zinn Education Project
$51,679

“Thanks to CREDO members’ support, we will offer educators more free people’s history lessons to “teach outside the textbook.” Over 128,000 teachers access our lessons and hundreds have joined our Teaching for Black Lives study groups.” – Jesse Hagopian, Zinn Education Project “Teach the Black Freedom Struggle” campaign leader

To learn more, visit zinnedproject.org.

Now check out the three groups we are funding in June, and cast your vote to help distribute our donations.

CREDO members who use our products are the reason why we are able to make these donations each month. Learn more about CREDO Mobile, the carrier with a conscience.

Posted on June 1, 2021

CREDO supports LGBTQ rights all year — not just during Pride Month

Here at CREDO, we don’t change our logo each June during Pride Month. That’s because we don’t need to.

While most corporate brands rainbow-stripe their logos for a month-long marketing campaign and issue statements to prove their LGBTQ cred, CREDO supports our allies in the LGBTQ community all year long.

In fact, since our founding in 1985, our customers have helped us donate more than $14 million to groups like the National LGBTQ Task Force, the Transgender Law Center, the ACLU, Freedom For All Americans (a June 2021 grantee) and dozens of other groups fighting for equality and civil rights.

Standing with the LGBTQ community is a core part of our company’s mission, and we are working every day to create a country and a world where everyone is free to be who they are. Our LGBTQ friends and family need allies all year-long — not just in June — and we’re proud to support them 365 days a year.

If brands want to support the LGBTQ community, they should do so authentically and all year-round, starting with the understanding that Pride Month was founded on resistance, and it isn’t a once-a-year party that corporate America can crash.

And companies who claim to support LGBTQ rights – not just the rainbow logos and cash that follows – should stop donating to the Republican party and lawmakers who are relentless in their attacks on LGBTQ equality.

For example, while telecom giant AT&T swaps out its logo for rainbows and sells Pride-themed merchandise on its website, it was reported in 2019 that the company had quietly donated at least $2.7 million to 193 anti-LGBTQ politicians — not to mention its habitual funding of the Republican party and other right-wing causes who stand in direct opposition to equality and LGBTQ rights.

As right-wing conservatives across the country continue their campaign to strip away the rights of LGBTQ people, especially among the trans community, the LGBTQ community needs allies all year, not just in June. We hope other brands follow our lead.

If you’d like to vote for Freedom For All Americans to receive a portion of this month’s donation, please visit CREDODonations.com.

Posted on May 27, 2021

6 tips for a safe and healthy travel season

Memorial Day weekend is upon us, and that usually means summer travel is just around the corner. This year, as more people steadily become vaccinated, pandemic protocols loosened and cabin fever has worn out its welcome, more than two-thirds of Americans are planning to travel this year.

Even though things aren’t quite back to normal yet, you can still have an enjoyable vacation while being safe. Public health officials recommend taking precautions before you travel since the vaccines are not 100% effective and variants continue to circulate, so now’s the time to plan before that vacation to ensure you and your loved ones stay healthy.

If you’re thinking about taking that long-deserved trip this summer, here are some tips to stay safe while having fun.

Get a vaccine (if you can)

As of this post, roughly 40% of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated, so our country still has a long way to go before the pandemic is over. The CDC recommends that you delay travel until you are fully vaccinated. If you are unable to get vaccinated and you must travel, the CDC has recommendations for steps you should take to protect yourself and others, like continuing to wear masks, social distance, and getting tested. Depending on your destination, you may be required to have proof of a negative COVID test. If you’re not vaccinated and would like to receive one, visit vaccines.gov to find an appointment near you.

And make sure you can prove it

When it comes to proving your vaccination status, it’s probably best to err on the safe side and have proof with you while you travel. If you’re traveling internationally, some countries may require proof of vaccination or a “vaccine passport,” a digital app that proves your status and could exempt you from lengthy quarantines or testing requirements. New York City already has a vaccine passport that will help businesses keep their customers and staff safe. Likewise, some large venues may also require proof of vaccination. Here’s more about vaccine passport apps from The Points Guy.

In the United States, your proof of vaccination is the COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card, the paper card you would have received after your shot. Make sure you take a photo of your vaccine card on your phone, but don’t laminate it. Visit the websites of your airline, hotel and other businesses to double-check their requirements for proof of vaccination or negative test results.

Don’t forget your mask

Even if you’re vaccinated, it’s not quite time to retire that mask just yet. Mask-wearing is still required on public transportation, including planes, buses, trains and subways, and many venues, businesses and municipalities may require them. It’s also a thoughtful gesture to those who aren’t able to get vaccinated, and wearing a mask can put others at ease. Just try to ignore the anti-maskers.

Find a mask that you feel comfortable in for extended periods of time, especially if you are flying long distances, and bring multiple masks that work for you.

Keep your hand sanitizer handy

When you’re traveling, you’re also bound to touch a lot of contaminated surfaces, like elevator buttons, pens and handrails, so keep your hand sanitizer close since it may not be available everywhere you go to prevent spreading any virus.

While you’re at it, check out our recent tip on how to disinfect your phone.

Watch out for online travel scams

While you may be primarily concerned about protecting your health this travel season, be sure to protect your wallet and bank account too. According to consumer advocacy organizations, travel scams are on the rise this year as people begin looking to save money.

As you search online for flights and hotels, be wary of rock-bottom prices (those pandemic deals are over). Scammers are out there looking for people who are searching for terms like “best airfare deals” and directing unsuspecting users to fake airline ticketing sites or fraudulent customer service numbers.

The Better Business Bureau suggests avoiding overly broad searches like “great deals on travel” and only book through reputable companies, not shady third-party sites. Don’t click links in your email or pop-ups offering “free” anything, and watch out for telemarketing calls or texts offering deals on travel.

Check out our recent tip on how to protect yourself from online scammers.

Consider a local day trip

Traveling locally may be your best bet if you want to stay safe this travel season. Find a nearby hike with few people, a bike trip with friends, or an outdoor food festival, concert or movie with social distancing. It may not be the big, post-pandemic vacation you’ve been hoping for, but it’s one step closer to normalcy. The upside? You’ll be reducing your carbon footprint this summer, as a short drive or riding public transportation emits far less carbon than that long international flight.

Posted on May 25, 2021

How history is taught matters: Results of our survey with Zinn Education Project

How history is taught matters, especially Black history.

That’s why, as our country continues to wrestle with issues of racial justice and civil rights, we recently reached out to CREDO members to answer a short survey in collaboration with our partners at Zinn Education Project about their experiences learning Black history in school and how that informs their views about systemic racism, voter suppression and white supremacy.

More than 5,000 CREDO members shared their experiences with us, and here are the results.

Do you remember learning about the Civil War and the Reconstruction Era in school?

We first asked our members if they remember learning about these two closely-related periods in 19th Century U.S. History. Not surprisingly, most respondents remember learning about the Civil War, but many fewer remember learning about Reconstruction, the era that immediately followed the Civil War and emancipation.

According to Zinn, “too often the story of this grand experiment in interracial democracy is skipped or rushed through in classrooms across the country,” and “the possibilities and achievements of this era are too often overshadowed by the violent white supremacist backlash.”

During the Reconstruction Era, mass political participation by Black people secured many new rights and freedoms.

Which of the following, if any, do you remember learning about?

Likewise, a large plurality of respondents were not aware of the new rights and freedoms afforded to Black people during the post-slavery Reconstruction Era.

There is a growing movement of educators committed to teaching people’s history in their classrooms.

What do you think are the top two benefits of young people learning people’s history?

Howard Zinn wrote the landmark 1980 publication A People’s History of the United States which tells U.S. history from “the point of view of — and in the words of — America’s women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers.” Zinn Education Project and many educators are now starting to teach the “People’s History,” and we asked our members how students will benefit from this approach.

Are you aware that Republican politicians in many states are attacking teachers’ ability to teach about racism in the classroom?

As some schools across the country are starting to adopt new approaches to teaching systemic racism, bias and privilege, conservative Republican lawmakers are using the opportunity to hatemonger, spread fear and inflame even more racism, moving to ban these curricula and propping up so-called “critical race theory” as a strawman.

We asked if our members are aware of these attacks, and a strong majority are.

A main strategy for maintaining structures of white supremacy is voter suppression.

Are you aware of any of these types of voter suppression in the state where you currently live?

Lastly, we asked our members if they are aware of any types of voter suppression occurring in their states. Roughly 60% of respondents are aware of voter suppression efforts.

According to our internal analysis, CREDO members residing in Republican-led or Republican-leaning states — including Florida, Texas, Wisconsin, Ohio, North Carolina, and Georgia — have seen the most efforts to restrict voting rights.

Posted on May 19, 2021

How to protect yourself (and your money) from phishing, vishing and smishing scams

If you’ve received a strange email, call or text recently that made you think twice, you may have been hit with a social engineering scam. Hackers and scammers are always looking for new ways to steal our personal information and money, and they are getting more sophisticated by the day.

Three common cyber attacks, known as phishing, vishing and smishing, are scams that criminals have been using recently to get people to click malicious links or hand over personal information, like a Social Security number, bank account login, passwords and more.

Here are some tips to help you identify these scams and protect yourself.

What’s phishing, vishing and smishing, and how do I spot them?

These are three sophisticated cyber attacks that prey on unsuspecting internet and mobile users to trick them into handing over their personal and private information. The sender may look legitimate, like your bank, credit card company, or streaming service, and ask you to reply or click a link to verify your information or sign up for a chance to win a free prize. When you click that link, you may be unknowingly downloading malware to your device or visiting a fake site that looks just like the website of your bank or cable company.

Phishing — which involves a fraudulent email asking you to click a link or download software — is probably the most popular of the three scams. According to the Federal Trade Commission, Americans lost $57 million from phishing scams in 2019 alone.

How to spot it: Signs of a phishing email include spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, typos in the sender name or reply address (credomobile.com vs. credoomobile.com) and strange or unexpected links pointing to a different URL than what is displayed.

Vishing is a portmanteau of “voice” and “phishing” and is a scam where criminals call or leave a voicemail asking for personal information. A vishing scammer will commonly spoof a phone number to make it look like it originated from a trusted source, like a local bank or an 800 number, and will try to convince you to reveal personal information. The FBI recently issued warnings that vishing scams are on the rise by organized crime rings, especially during the pandemic.

How to spot it: Signs of a vishing call include an unfamiliar caller ID, a caller claiming to be from the government, threatening legal action for unpaid taxes or claiming there are problems with your social security account, anyone unwilling to answer basic questions, or recorded messages that sound automated or ask you to press the keys on your phone.

Smishing is an unwanted text message asking for personal information or urging you to click a suspicious link. The word “SMiShing” is a mashup of SMS (short message service, or text) and phishing, so the attack is essentially a phishing scam conducted over text message. The scammer will typically appear to be a trusted source, like a bank or retailer, and attempt to trick you to click a malicious link or convince you to hand over private information.

How to spot it: A text sent from an unknown number, spelling or grammar errors, or asking you to click a link to verify your information, offering a deal or prize, view an invoice, reactivate an account, or some other action you did not ask for.

How to protect yourself from these scams

The most obvious: If it feels like a scam, it’s probably a scam. Trust your gut.
If you receive an unsolicited phone call, text, or email, NEVER hand over your personal information, including passwords, bank account or Social Security numbers. Most creditors, companies and services will never ask for this information when calling you.
Never click a suspicious link, and never call or text back a number you don’t recognize. The same goes for any suspicious looking emails. Mark them as spam and delete.
Read our previous tip on how to block robocalls and spam calls.
Slow down. If the person contacting you is turning up the urgency, it’s most likely a scam. Take a step back and ask yourself if the situation feels right. Again, if this is an organization you recognize, call the customer service number published on its website.
Protect yourself ahead of time by turning on automatic updates on your computer and mobile device. Turn on multi-factor authentication, especially on your most sensitive accounts.
If you feel like the call, text, or email is legitimate, hang up with the caller or do not reply to the text message or email. Visit the website of the organization in question and call the customer service number.
If you’ve handed over your personal information or mistakenly clicked a link that you suspect to be fraudulent, change the passwords to your affected accounts, including your email and bank accounts, immediately. Run a virus or malware scan on your devices. Call the organization or company that you suspect this fraud originated from and explain the situation. Notify your bank, credit card company and/or credit agencies about the situation.

Posted on May 17, 2021

Take Back the Court is fighting the Republican theft of the Supreme Court

After the passing of progressive icon Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Donald Trump and right-wing Republicans rammed through Trump’s third hyper-partisan Supreme Court nominee right before the 2020 election, solidifying for a generation a conservative majority bent on turning back decades of progress on reproductive rights, workers rights, voting and civil rights, the environment, and so much more.

Instead of being America’s last line of defense for liberty, justice and our fundamental rights, the Supreme Court has now become a branch of government reliably looking out for the interests of corporations, the wealthy and the Republican party, over everyday working families.

That’s why, after RBG’s passing in September 2020, CREDO members helped us donate $50,000 to Take Back the Court, an important ally in the fight to expand the Supreme Court and restore the right to vote, ensure reproductive freedom, protect workers, halt our climate emergency and save our democracy.

Since our donation, the assault on our elections, voting rights and democracy has only intensified, with more than 40 states introducing legislation to suppress the vote, especially in communities of color, as well as the insurrection on the U.S. Capitol to overturn the presidential election. This assault on our democracy was enabled by the Roberts’ Court’s outrageous decision to gut the Voting Rights Act.

Take Back the Court has been tirelessly advocating to add more seats to the Supreme Court as the only practical, proportional way to reverse the theft of the Supreme Court and restore its balance, integrity, and independence — and the organization’s victories in the last few months have made waves in Washington and across the country.

In April, the organization advocated for the introduction of the Judiciary Act of 2021, historic legislation introduced by Sen. Ed Markey and Reps. Jerry Nadler, Hank Johnson, and Mondaire Jones, that would expand the Supreme Court from the current nine seats to thirteen as an essential structural reform to counterbalance the theft of the Court by right-wing partisan politicians. The bill’s introduction received 17 original cosponsors, widespread coverage in NBC, CBS, Vox, Good Morning America and other major outlets, and a massive coalition of progressive organizations who back the bill. Speaker Nancy Pelosi even said that court expansion should be considered.

If we want to restore our democracy, end partisan gerrymandering, restore the Voting Rights Act, and stop the flood of unlimited dark money in our politics, the organization argues, then we must un-rig the system and expand the Supreme Court. You can read more about why expanding the Court is so important from Take Back the Court’s director Aaron Belkin in “The Case For Court Expansion.“

Structural reform of this scale won’t be easy, and Take Back the Court needs our help. Here are some ways to get involved:

Follow Take Back the Court on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok!
Call your Senators and member of Congress and urge them to co-sponsor the Judiciary Act of 2021. The Capitol switchboard number is (202) 224-3121
Sign Take Back the Court’s petition demanding Senators stand with Ed Markey in support of the Judiciary Act of 2021

Posted on May 17, 2021

How CREDO’s donation is helping the League of Conservation Voters act on climate and our democracy

CREDO members know how intertwined the climate crisis is with threats to democracy, and how important defending voting rights, electing climate champions, and holding politicians accountable for their votes on the environment are to the future of our planet.

That’s why in June 2020, CREDO members helped us donate $51,841 to the League of Conservation Voters, an organization that influences policy, holds politicians accountable, wins elections and fights to build a world with clean air, clean water, public lands, and a safe climate that are protected by a just and equitable democracy.

This donation from our members helped LCV and its state affiliates secure new clean energy progress at the state and local levels and helped build momentum for bold federal action on the climate crisis, democracy, and environmental justice by the Biden-Harris administration.Working with its affiliates in more than 30 states and its Chispa and Climate Action organizing programs, LCV’s Clean Energy for All campaign wins policies to equitably shift the U.S. to 100% clean energy through grassroots organizing, advocacy, and partnerships. Since launching this campaign in 2018, LCV has helped advocate for and win historic state-level climate action, such that 1 in 3 U.S. residents now live in places committed to 100% clean energy. In the last few months, the campaign:

Secured passage of Massachusetts’ NextGen Roadmap Bill — landmark climate legislation that implements the strictest emission limits in the country of at least 50% carbon reductions by 2030, and includes critical environmental justice protections 20 years in the making and expands Massachusetts’ commitment to offshore wind;
Pushed Lincoln Electric System, one of Nebraska’s three major utility boards, towards a unanimous vote to commit to net-zero carbon by 2040, building on a similar victory with the Omaha Public Power board the previous year;
Secured the biggest electric school bus deal in the nation when Montgomery County, MD committed to lease over 300 electric school buses as part of Chispa Maryland’s Clean Buses for Healthy Niños campaign;
Secured approval in Arizona of an electric school bus pilot project in the Cartwright School District, which — along with the rollout of Arizona’s first electric school bus in the Phoenix Unified School Districtin 2020 — is a result of Chispa’s work to organize Latinx parents and students in the state since 2017; and
Advanced policy expanding solar access for low-income communities in New Mexico, secured critical environmental justice policy in Washington, and passed clean cars legislation in Virginia.

Second, the CREDO grant helped LCV to play a lead role in the environmental movement’s successful efforts to push the Biden-Harris administration to advance a strong agenda on climate and environmental justice. Last year, LCV’s Change the Climate 2020 campaign helped make the climate crisis a top priority for Democratic presidential primary candidates on the campaign trail and ensure that whoever won the nomination would be ready to enact an ambitious and equitable climate plan starting on Day One. The Biden-Harris administration campaigned and won—with more than 81 million votes—on the strongest climate and environmental justice plan of any presidential ticket in U.S. history. In early 2021, LCV released a list of policy priorities for the Biden-Harris administration’s first 100 days and the 117th Congress and launched a $300,000 digital ad campaign to support this work. LCV’s new report, 100 Days in Office, details the many ways in which the Biden-Harris administration has already started to deliver on its historic campaign commitments to tackle the climate crisis, confront racial and economic injustice, and fix our democracy.

Third, LCV played a critical role in securing major climate and clean energy provisions in the year-end omnibus package passed by Congress in December 2020. These provisions include pieces to limit climate super pollutant HFCs, extend clean energy tax credits for wind and solar, invest in clean energy grid modernization, advance energy efficiency, and reduce diesel pollution.

To learn more and get involved with LCV’s important climate justice work, visit https://www.lcv.org/ or follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.